Sunday, March 29, 2015

Life on the Farm - Processing Beef

For those of you who only know me from my writing, you`re now going to get a peek at what I do when I'm not writing scorching hot erotic stories. My hubby and I raise and butcher our own meat here on what we call "The Hillside Farm". Over the years we have processed everything from meat chickens to a Hereford steer.

It's been a busy couple of days here. Mister took Friday off to begin the long process of butchering our oldest
steer, a brown Swiss. Now I know that folks aren`t into seeing the gruesome
stuff, and none of that is going to be shown. What I thought I would share is
how we processed the meat after it was off the bone. There shouldn`t be
anything that upsets anyone, but if you are of a tender nature or don`t like to
see beef before it`s all packaged up in the grocery store keep on truckin'.

Let`s kick things off my explaining that the steer
was humanely dispatched and hung for a week. On Friday, Mister and my
brother-in-law Dave spent 13 hours cutting all the meat off the bone. Hubby said
to pass along to any who are thinking of trying to butcher a steer at home to
allot at least 25 hours for the job.
It is a time-consuming project to say the least, but the results are well worth
the time spent, at least we think so.

We'll pick up on Saturday. Hubby and I started
around nine. The guys had cut the roasts, cubes, and steaks out on Friday.
We're guessing about 50 pounds worth. Saturday was grinding day. We are huge fans of the Food Saver vacuum
sealers. They really do keep meat fresh in the freezer for much longer than
butcher paper.

We started out with two totes filled with cubed
meat. Mister would carry in a dishpan full at a time then grind it.

Then it came to me to bag and seal. We generally put
about a pound or so into each bag, which works well for just three people. I
sealed and dated each bag then I placed them into my old laundry basket to be
carried out to the freezers by Mister.

Hubby and I spent about 7 hours grinding and bagging
290 pounds of ground beef yesterday. Yes, you read right. 290 pounds! Our
freezers are now packed solid with homegrown beef. Yes, it is a big undertaking
but the knowledge that you know exactly what has been put into the meat you're
eating makes it all worthwhile for us. Talk about a tasty reward for all that
hard work: medium rare filet mignon with
a lovely baked potato. Beef. It's what`s for dinner on this farm!